System and method for managing electronic interactions based on defined relationships

• US 10,187,388 B2
• Filed: 03/12/2015
• Issued: 01/22/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/12/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Higgins, Robert M., Cartaya, Julio, Siegel, Steven A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hoffman, Brandon S
• Assistant Examiner(s): Salehi, Helai
• Application Number:
  US14/645,454
• Publication Number:
  US 20160269237A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,412 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/10 for controlling access to devices or network resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/065 Continuous authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a process that includes receiving first input defining a relationship between first and second entities, generating a first rule based on the first input, wherein the first rule determines accessibility of a networked service, and associating the first rule with the relationship. The first rule modifies settings of a service management infrastructure to effectuate the first rule in accordance with the relationship, wherein the service management infrastructure provides access to the networked service based on the accessibility. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing to equipment of a first party and equipment of a second party, by a processing system comprising a processor, information concerning selection of selectable characteristics, wherein the selectable characteristics pertain to a social relationship between the first party and the second party, wherein the selectable characteristics comprise fixed attributes and dynamic attributes, wherein the fixed attributes include fixed party information, and wherein the dynamic attributes include dynamic party information;

determining, by the processing system, a first determined persona from a first plurality of personas for the first party and a second determined persona from a second plurality of personas for the second party based on a present interaction between the first party and the second party, wherein the first determined persona and the second determined persona are related based on the social relationship between the first party and the second party, wherein the first plurality of personas for the first party include a first root identity for the first party and the second plurality of personas for the second party include a second root identity for the second party, and wherein first additional personas of the first plurality of personas are linked to the first root identity and second additional personas of the second plurality of personas are linked to the second root identity;

determining, by the processing system, an interrelationship between the first additional personas and the second additional personas based on the first root identity and the second root identity;

generating, by the processing system, responsive to the determining the interrelationship between the first additional personas and the second additional personas, a first rule according to both first selections of the selectable characteristics received from the equipment of the first party and according to the first determined persona and second selections of the selectable characteristics received from the equipment of the second party and according to the second determined persona;

associating, by the processing system, the first rule with the social relationship between the first party and the second party, wherein the first rule modifies settings of a network element to effectuate the first rule, wherein the network element provides a network-accessible service, and wherein the settings modified by the first rule restrict data accessibility of the network-accessible service;

storing, by the processing system, the first rule in association with the social relationship between the first party and the second party;

configuring, by the processing system, infrastructure equipment based on the first rule resulting in configured infrastructure equipment that supports access to the network element in accordance with the first rule; and

providing, by the processing system, access to the network-accessible service via the configured infrastructure equipment.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first selections comprise a behavior, a trait, an expectation, a norm, or a combination thereof of the social relationship between the first party and the second party, the method further comprising:

receiving, by the processing system, a request to access the network-accessible service;

identifying, by the processing system, the first party, the second party, or both parties from the request to access the network-accessible service;

identifying, by the processing system, the social relationship based on the identifying of the first party, the second party, or both parties; and

retrieving, by the processing system, the first rule in response to the identifying of the social relationship.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first rule comprises one of a instructions to configure the infrastructure equipment, executable code that configures the infrastructure equipment or both, the method further comprising, receiving, by the system, messages indicating an acceptance of the first rule by the equipment of the first party and the equipment of the second party, and wherein the configuring of the infrastructure equipment is in response to the receiving of the messages indicating the acceptance of the first rule.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, by the processing system, an update of the first rule;

generating, by the processing system, a second rule based on the update;

associating, by the processing system, the second rule with the social relationship between the first party and the second party, wherein the second rule modifies settings of the network element to effectuate the second rule;

receiving, by the processing system, a second request to access the network-accessible service;

determining, by the processing system, that the second request to access the network-accessible service is associated with the social relationship;

retrieving, by the processing system, the second rule in response to the determining that the request is associated with the social relationship;

reconfiguring, by the processing system, the network element based on the second rule resulting in reconfigured infrastructure equipment that supports access to the network element in accordance with the second rule; and

providing, by the processing system, access to the network-accessible service via the reconfigured infrastructure equipment.

5. The method of claim 2, further comprising modifying the first rule based on the dynamic attributes, wherein the dynamic attributes comprise a location, a business group ID, a personal group ID, hardware type and/or hardware ID, date, time, other environmental attributes, or a combination thereof.

6. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, by the processing system, a credential from the equipment of the first party or a trusted credentialing authority; and

authorizing, by the processing system, access to the network-accessible service based on the credential, wherein the configuring of the network element is in response to the authorizing of the access.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the providing of the access to the network-accessible service via the reconfigured infrastructure equipment in accordance with the first rule is responsive to the request received from communication equipment of the first party, wherein the providing of the access to the network-accessible service via the reconfigured infrastructure equipment in accordance with the second rule is responsive to the request received from communication equipment of the second party, and wherein the first rule differs from the second rule.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein a network service provider provides one of the network-accessible service, the network element, the infrastructure equipment that supports access to the network element, or a combination thereof.

9. A device, comprising:

a processing system including a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

receiving preferences from equipment of a first party, from equipment of a second party, or from both equipment, wherein the preferences define a social relationship between the first party and the second party, and wherein the preferences comprise fixed attributes and dynamic attributes, wherein the fixed attributes include fixed party information, and wherein the dynamic attributes include dynamic party information;

receiving a first determined persona from a first plurality of personas for the first party and a second determined persona from a second plurality of personas for the second party based on a present interaction between the first party and the second party from equipment of a first party, from equipment of a second party, or from both equipment, wherein the first determined persona and the second determined persona are related based on the social relationship between the first party and the second party, wherein the first plurality of personas for the first party include a first root identity for the first party and the second plurality of personas for the second party include a second root identity for the second party, and wherein first additional personas of the first plurality of personas are linked to the first root identity and second additional personas of the second plurality of personas are linked to the second root identity;

determining an interrelationship between the first additional personas and the second additional personas based on the first root identity and the second root identity;

generating a first rule based on the social relationship defined by the first determined persona and the second determined persona responsive to the determining the interrelationship between the first additional personas and the second additional personas, wherein the first rule modifies settings of a service infrastructure to effectuate the first rule, wherein the service infrastructure provides a network accessible service, and wherein the settings modified by the first rule restrict data accessibility of the network accessible service;

storing the first rule in association with the social relationship between the first party and the second party;

configuring the service infrastructure based on the first rule resulting in configured infrastructure equipment that supports access to the network accessible service in accordance with the first rule; and

providing access to the network accessible service via the configured infrastructure equipment.

10. The device of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a request to access the network accessible service;

identifying the first party, the second party, or both parties from the request to access the network accessible service;

identifying the social relationship based on the identifying of the first party, the second party, or both parties; and

responsive to identifying the social relationship, retrieving the first rule associated with the social relationship.

11. The device of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise receiving an indication of an acceptance of the first rule by the equipment of the first party and the equipment of the second party, wherein the configuring of the service infrastructure is in response to the receiving of the indication of the acceptance of the first rule, wherein the processor comprises a plurality of processors operating in a distributed processing environment.

12. The device of claim 10, wherein the request to access the network accessible service is received from communication equipment of the first party, the operations further comprising:

receiving a second preference;

generating a second rule based on the second preference;

associating the second rule with the social relationship between the first party and the second party, wherein the second rule modifies operations of the service infrastructure;

receiving a second request from communication equipment of the second party to access the network accessible service;

determining that the second request to access the network accessible service from the communication equipment of the second party is associated with the social relationship;

retrieving the second rule in response to the determining that the second request is associated with the social relationship;

reconfiguring the service infrastructure based on the second rule resulting in reconfigured infrastructure equipment that supports access to the network accessible service in accordance with the second rule; and

providing access to the network accessible service via the reconfigured infrastructure equipment.

13. The device of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise modifying the first rule based on a change in the social relationship between the first party and the second party before receiving the indication of the acceptance of the first rule.

14. The device of claim 12, wherein the first rule differs from the second rule, and wherein the generating of the first rule, the second rule or both comprises determining instructions that respectively configure the infrastructure equipment based on the preferences, the second preference or both.

15. The device of claim 12, wherein the social relationship comprises a behavior, a trait, a characteristic, an expectation, a norm, or a combination thereof of interactions of the first party, the second party or both with the network accessible services, wherein the operations further comprise receiving messages indicating an acceptance of the second rule by the equipment of the first party, the equipment of the second party or both, wherein the configuring of the service infrastructure is in response to the receiving the messages indicating the acceptance of the second rule.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

receiving from equipment of a first entity, from equipment of a second entity, or from both, first input defining a social relationship between the first entity and the second entity, wherein the social relationship between the first entity and the second entity are defined by selectable characteristics comprising fixed attributes and dynamic attributes, wherein the fixed attributes include fixed party information, and wherein the dynamic attributes include dynamic party information;

receiving from equipment of a first entity, from equipment of a second entity, or from both, a first determined persona from a first plurality of personas for the first entity and a second determined persona from a second plurality of personas for the second entity based on a present interaction between the first entity and the second entity, wherein the first determined persona and the second determined persona are related based on the social relationship between the first entity and the second entity, wherein the first plurality of personas for the first entity include a first root identity for the first entity and the second plurality of personas for the second entity include a second root identity for the second entity, and wherein first additional personas of the first plurality of personas are linked to the first root identity and second additional personas of the second plurality of personas are linked to the second root identity;

determining an interrelationship between the first additional personas and the second additional personas based on the first root identity and the second root identity;

generating a first rule based on the first input responsive to the determining the interrelationship between the first additional personas and the second additional personas, and according to the first determined persona and the second determined persona, wherein the first rule determines accessibility of a networked service;

associating the first rule with the social relationship between the first entity and the second entity, wherein the first rule modifies settings of a service management infrastructure to effectuate the first rule in accordance with the social relationship between the first entity and the second entity, and wherein the service management infrastructure provides access to the networked service based on the accessibility;

configuring the service management infrastructure based on the first rule resulting in configured infrastructure equipment that supports access to the networked service; and

providing access to the networked service via the configured infrastructure equipment.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving a request to access the networked service;

identifying the first entity, the second entity, or both parties from the request to access the networked service;

identifying the social relationship based on the identifying of the first entity, the second entity, or both parties; and

determining the first rule in response to the determining that the request is associated with the social relationship.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise, receiving an indication of an acceptance of the first rule by the equipment of the first entity and the equipment of the second entity, wherein the configuring of the service management infrastructure is in response to the receiving of the indication of the acceptance of the first rule.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the networked service comprises access to stored information of the first entity, wherein the defining of the social relationship comprises defining an extent of the access to the stored information by equipment of the second entity, and wherein the extent of the access to the stored information is based on the social relationship.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the first entity and the second entity comprises an individual, an organization, a group of individuals, a machine, an avatar, a virtual service or a combination thereof, and wherein the processor comprises a plurality of processors operating in a distributed processing environment.

21. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the social relationship comprises a plurality of states, wherein the first rule depends upon a state of the plurality of states.

22. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving from equipment of a first entity, from equipment of a second entity, or from both, a second input updating the social relationship between the first entity and the second entity; and

modifying the first rule based on the second input.